Road Extension To Open Late

December 11, 1985|By Brian Kaufman, Staff Writer

COCONUT CREEK — The $3.7 million, one-mile extension of Lyons Road south to Northwest 31st Avenue, originally slated for completion last month, probably won`t be finished until late spring because of slow-moving utility modifications, a Broward County official said Tuesday.

``We can`t get in there until Florida Power & Light moves those transmission distribution lines,`` said Darwin Townsend, Broward County`s chief engineer of construction management. ``Originally, we anticipated getting done by last month.``

Inability to work on some Margate water and sewer lines at the intersection of Coconut Creek Parkway and Lyons Road also has contributed to the delay, Townsend said.

``It`s the nature of the beast,`` Townsend said. ``No project in Broward County is clean.``

Townsend said the four lane road could be finished by April or May.

``Without traffic modifications . . . it doesn`t take long to put a road through a cornfield.``

Coconut Creek City Manager Dennis Mele said the city is glad the project is nearing completion, but is disappointed it has taken so long.

``The project was part of a 1978 bond issue,`` Mele said. ``Ever since 1982 . . . we`ve been hoping it would be completed as soon as possible.``

By Monday, about 62 percent of the job was finished, Townsend said, including a one-mile stretch of Northwest 31st Avenue that runs from Atlantic Boulevard to Florida`s Turnpike.

Townsend said State Paving, Broward County`s contractor on the project, cannot build the four lane road until FPL relocates 12 bulk transmission lines that carry a large chunk of north Broward`s electricity.

Fred Trice, FPL`s district office manager, said 12 new, 35,000 pound concrete poles should be in place about 100 feet west of the old poles by the end of March.

The poles, which hold lines that carry about 240,000 volts of electricity compared to the 13,200 volts carried on regular neighborhood lines, cost about $12,000 each to erect. Broward County must reimburse FPL for the cost of the move because FPL is giving up its easement for the roadway.

The total cost of the project may not be known for 10 years, Townsend said. He said property owners have the right to appeal in court the amount of money the county is willing to pay for their land and often do.

The $3.7 million price tag includes the contruction cost of the road -- limestone and asphalt -- as well as street lights, storm drainage and traffic lights.